Minor Miracle

The Pactor modem seems to be working and I think that I have sent out my backlog of blogs.

I'm not sure why it is working again. A few days ago I sprayed generous amounts of CRC electronic cleaner into the interface sockets at the back of the modem but that seemed to do no good.

This morning I tried once again swapping the cable between the Pactor and the USB port on the laptop but that did no good, confirming that it was not a cable problem. I gave up and decided to plug the normal cable into the back of the Pactor so that I would not lose track of it among all of the other black cables in that cabinet. This time the plug went in with a solid and satisfying "thunk" so I decided to plug the USB end into my computer as a last Hail Mary effort. To my surprise I heard the sound from the OS that it sensed a new device. I looked at the ports that the OS could see an sure enough there was COM5, the one servicing the Pactor. A "properties" on the port indicated that the port was working normally. On that basis I tried connecting to Sailmail and fortunately I am close enough to the station to be able to connect at most times of the day, and the station was still working. I got a connection and it appears that my 3 items went out and 4 came it.

Sending out the blogs took only about 3 minutes of airtime but receiving the 4 messages took over 6 minutes. My first priority is to get my messages out so I hope that there is understanding of my request that UNTIL THINGS SETTLE DOWN AND I REGAIN CONFIDENCE IN THE PACTOR PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY EXCEPT THE MOST URGENT MESSAGES TO MY SAILMAIL ADDRESS.

If this connection has indeed worked then it suggests that there is nothing seriously wrong with the innards of the Pactor modem, which would be a great relief. I can think of only 3 possible reasons for the "fix": (1) The CRC electronic cleaner that Arnold introduced me to several years ago (2) When the Pactor failed I was running the engine and the house battery was at 14.3V. It is just possible that the high voltage upset the Pactor as it did the AIS transponder (3) The Sea Divas have looked on me favourably (Hey don't laugh because anything is possible.)

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